Restoring College Football

Jim Donnan, like a number of college football coaches, doesn't like the new rule that the clock runs after change of possession. Well, neither does There's a Catch. However, our reasons differ.

Personally, I don't think games are too long. This year, games were about 15 minutes shorter, on average, than the previous year. They still average more than 3 hours in duration, though. What's an extra 15 minutes? My main complaint is that I think the rule is unnecessary. And, I did notice that games without many incomplete passes seem to fly by quickly ... a little too quickly.

Donnan points to shorter games increasing the chances of the less talented team winning. So do TO's, should we get rid of them? Generally, this is true, but I don't remember there being many major upsets. If they shortened the games by half, it might dramatically increase the number of upsets. Often, good teams struggle at the beginnings of games and then turn it on late in the first half and early in the second half to take control of the game. Decreasing the game length forces teams to play better sooner, which I don't think anyone can say is a bad thing ... although I do not think tinkering with the rules to increase the pressure to play well is the way to go either.

Donnan and I diverge on one of his complaints:

The rules changes also significantly affected the ability of teams to utilize end-of-game clock management and minimized their chances to stage a comeback.

The rule change didn't prevent comebacks. Texas Tech came back from a 38-7 deficit in their bowl game against Minnesota and won. Teams just need to understand time and score and react accordingly. Previously, teams had enough timeouts (3) each half that they could minimize the temporal constraints on the comeback to about 15 seconds if they could force a three and out. Under the current rules, trailing teams would like the clock to stop before 1st down and after 1st, 2nd and 3rd down. They don't give you four timeouts, so extra time is going to run off the clock and you are powerless to stop it.

One of the ideas Donnan lists as being under consideration is going to a 40-second clock. If you want to keep time sacred, this is essential. Too many times during bowl season, officials would lollygag around before spotting the ball, then lollygag around some more before giving the ready-for-play signal. If you don't know how long each play is going to take (approximately, at least), then you don't stand much of a chance to figure out the clock management side of things. Over the course of 3 plays, a 5-10 second delay in starting the play clock can cost a team a chance at getting the ball back or a chance at getting a couple plays off. And, you can't plan for it and that is why it should be changed. Even if they don't increase the technology available for communication between coaches and players, standardizing the system will benefit everyone involved. You don't have to shorten the time allowed before the snap, just let people know what it is going to be.

Donnan bemoans the loss of approximately 7 plays per team during a game. But, he doesn't argue against new rules that will impact the game similarly: "Other ideas include not stopping the clock when a player goes out of bounds, except at the end of the half and at the end of games, and not stopping the clock on first downs." Not stopping the clock on first downs prevents time from running off the clock while the chains are being moved. We wouldn't need chains if my rule to round to the nearest yard was adopted. Then, it would be easy to determine whether or not a first down had been achieved, assuming the officials get the ball placement correct. Additionally, decreasing stoppage of play for players going out of bounds would keep the clock running, thus decreasing the average number of plays and leading to more upsets. That would be awful!

What I'm getting at is that there is more than one way to skin a cat. Many possibilities exist for ways to shorten games. You could allow the clock to run after incompletions. Or, you could limit the total number of plays from scrimmage in a game. As soon as the 170th play is done, the game is over. Implement a running clock. Each quarter will be 40 minutes and there will be a 20 minute halftime. The game will end in 3 hours (4*40+20=180; 180/60=3). I'm interested in game length, but there are bigger issues of equity that should be higher on the list of college football worries.